Once upon a time when the mountains were young, import-car buyers were avant-garde. These half-mad radicals thought nothing of trading in a perfectly good De Soto Firesweep for—whoa!—an English car! They craved something quirky and agile like a Morris Minor or Hillman Minx that worked. Worked! Started every morning. Lasted decades. Sold for cheap. Of course, you nod, they wanted a BMC Mini, but engineered by Honda.

The Heritage Motor Centre (HMC) combined their historical resources with Mark Greer and Associates’ knack for cataloguing and compiled the largest assemblage of Adobe Acrobat files, for 1959 to 1969 Minis, on the face of the earth. The most amazing part of this is there were no Adobe Acrobat files at all until 1990, thus provoking the question, “Where exactly did they get these?” This mystery aside, the HMC has amassed a virtual cornucopia of technical and owner’s manuals for the Mini Saloon, Mini Cooper and Cooper S, the Mini Van, the Mini Pick-up, Countryman, Traveler, Riley Elf, Austin Seven, Australian Mini, and Woseley Hornet MKI, II and III on one super-easy to use CDROM. You might be asking yourself, “Self, why do I need all of these manuals when I only have one classic Mini?” Well, to be quite honest, apart from nostalgic reasons, and the fact that you cannot find original parts publications for a 1967 Mini Countryman Woody Wagon anywhere else, much less the original owner’s manual to a 1959 Austin Seven MKI, there might not be a reason for you to invest in this CD. However, if you want these impossible to find manuals to top off that “complete car” restoration project, or if you can’t remember the proper firing order for your Riley Elf (1, 3, 4, 2), or if you are simply a glutton for knowledge, this is the compilation for you.

At the track, Mini Mania's power and suspension upgrades proved a well-enginered package. The Stage III MINI Cooper delivered results that crushed a stock MINI Cooper S. Senior Road Test Editor Chris Walton notes, "You gotta love a front-driver that can get into the elite 70-mph-slalom club. The secret to the Mini Cooper Stage III is to drive it like you're running from the cops. You must trust that the tires will eventually regain grip -- and they do -- on the way to the next slalom cone where you gotta slide it by that one, and so on. I could really feel the limited-slip working at the exit. Where the stock MINI Cooper S hesitates before all the wheels are going the same speed in the same direction, the Stage III says 'Right now!', everything hooks up, and the car blasts out the other side."

I was driving the narrow roads of southern Ireland, but my mind was on American drivers. I was certain some of us, fed up with the rigors of driving and owning pricey sport-utility rigs and looking for a new fashion statement, would welcome the low-cost, little Mini I was in.